70th Anniversary of WWII

The nation commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II.

James Refsnider, 88, rests with the aid of a grave marker in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer sitting on the bluffs above Omaha Beach, the bloodiest of the five beach landing sites on the Normandy coast. Refsnider was part of the crew in an LCI, landing craft infantry, directing troop movement in the waters off Omaha beach, were more than 3,000 Americans were left dead, wounded or missing. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

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A southern Alabama veteran and his guardian walk along the National World War II Memorial, past the Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool on Sept. 23, 2010. (SHNS photo by Danielle Alberti) (RS) (WWII)

Diane Hight comforts W.T. Hardwick, 87, as he looks towards the dunes that conceal Utah Beach from his sight. Hardwick, a member of the 4th Infantry Division, was among the men who stormed Utah Beach in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944. After surviving the initial invasion, he was captured four days later in the hedgerows while making his way towards Saint-Lo. In the first 30 days of his 10-month ordeal as a POW, Hardwick went from a weight of 200 pounds to roughly 130 pounds. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

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Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii had to petition the U.S. government to serve in the Army during World War II after he and other Japanese-Americans were declared enemy aliens after Pearl Harbor. He lost his right arm during an attack on a German machine gun in April 1945. This action earned him the Medal of Honor. He went on to college and law school after the war and then to a career in politics that brought him to the Senate in 1962. Now in his ninth term, he is President Pro Tem of the Senate and continues to be an ardent supporter of veterans. (SHNS photo by Danielle Cohen) (RS) (WWII)

Richard Elliott, 87, raises his hand to salute as taps is played during a ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluffs that overlook Omaha Beach. The cemetery is the final resting place of 9,387 American soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the war. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

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In a moment of remembrance, veterans went silent as a single Navy trumpeter, Senior Chief Gerald Keehner, played Taps on Sept. 23, 2010. (SHNS photo by Danielle Alberti) (RS) (WWII)

Clarence Mason, 90, walks quietly across Sword Beach, one of the five beach landing sites on D-Day, after gathering a hand full of pebbles and shells to take back to Memphis. For Mason returning home from the war was bittersweet. He left France where African-Americans were accepted, to return home to his family in the segregated south. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg addresses a group of veterans aboard the USS New Jersey during a ceremony to collect recorded oral histories of former servicemen. Lautenberg is one of the last three veterans of World War II serving in Congress, and says the war and the education he received through the GI Bill was a turning point in his life. He spent four years in the Army Signal Corps and went on to help found and lead the payroll processing firm ADP for more than 30 years before being elected to the United States Senate five times. (SHNS photo courtesy Office of Sen. Frank Lautenberg) (WWII)

Olin Pickens, 89, comforts Nadia Martinez, from Barcelona, Spain, as she breaks down into tears after thanking Pickens for his sacrifices while they stand on Juno Beach, the landing site of the Canadian forces on D-Day. Martinez said that seeing the large group of veterans walking across the beach flooded her with emotion because it made all the lives lost on the beaches of Normandy feel even more real to her. Tears and thanks were showered on the vets as they traveled across Europe from grateful citizens who often said they owed their freedom to the men in the group. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

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Otmar Bohac walks between the buses to look at the memorials at Arlington National Cemetery on April 12, 2011. More than 200 West Texas World War II veterans were escorted on a tour of war memorials in the nation's capital as guests of the West Texas Honor Flight. Two 737 airplanes and several chartered buses transported the veterans at no cost to them. (SHNS photo by Ronald W. Erdrich / Abilene Reporter News) (RS) (WWII)

Medic Ken Thomas, 88, uses his cane to write in the sand on Utah Beach, one of two sites where American soldiers landed on the beaches of France the morning of June 6, 1944, to expel the Nazis from western Europe. (SHNS photo by Mike Brown / The Commercial Appeal) (RS) (WWII)

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Ulyes Dickens, left, walks up a ramp on the Atlantic side of the World War II Memorial to get a look at the Texas column, April 12, 2011. A group of more than 200 West Texas World War II veterans went on a one-day, whirlwind tour of war memorials in the nation's capital called the West Texas Honor Flight. Two 737 airplanes and several chartered buses transported the veterans at no cost to them. (SHNS photo by Ronald W. Erdrich / Abilene Reporter News) (RS) (WWII)

Abilene Reporter-News

Scripps Howard war correspondent Ernie Pyle with soldiers on Iwo Jima, 1945. Pyle related the stories of the rank-and-file to readers across the U.S. in his widely read columns. (SHNS photo courtesy Sgt. T. D. Barnett, Jr. / courtesy National Archives) (WWII)

Dorothy Hansen, left, and Mattie "Pearl" Gummelt laugh as they get their picture taken by guardians in front of the Texas column at the World War II Memorial on April 12, 2011. Lifelong friends, both women joined the Navy together as nurses during the war. Roughly 400,000 women served in WWII, including 16 who died in combat and 527 who died from non-combat causes. (SHNS photo by Ronald W. Erdrich / Abilene Reporter News) (RS) (WWII)